SIDNEY — Monday evening, Police Chief Will Balling presented Sidney City Council with the police department’s annual report of its general activities, community programs and drug activity statistics.
Balling said the police department held several community resource programs again in 2016, including: RAD (Rape Aggression Defense), the 12-hour self-defense training program, which Balling said between 60 to 80 women attended; the department’s first Citizen Police Academy, that is now in the middle of its second academy class; scams and identify fraud presentations; heroin presentations; “Coffee with a Cop,” aimed to facilitate communication and a better relationship between the community and the police department; and active shoot presentations.
Balling’s report indicated violent crimes have gone up some, but are still much lower than in 2013. He also said automobile crashes went up in 2016, but have been occurring more frequently on private property than public streets.
He said last year the police department responded to 28,722 calls for service, investigated 731 automobile crashes, and made 936 arrests. The department’s drug unit presented 174 felony cases to the grand jury. Balling said unfortunately, most of those cases dealt with heroin.
Balling reported an increase in heroin related OVI (operating under the influence) citations. He said the Ohio State Highway Patrol (OSP) advises there is at least one heroin related OVI a day on Interstate 75 between Dayton and Sidney. He said it is difficult to detect an individual under the influence of heroin and that the Sidney Police Department currently has one certified officer who can testify in court on the medical aspect of their investigation of people identified on drugs.
Balling’s report revealed the department completed 142 reports including a drug code; 52 adults and 12 juveniles were charged with non-felony drug charges. Most of the adult drug related charges dealt with heroin. He also noted the Shelby County prosecutor reported 83 percent of all charges received last year were drug related — either directly or indirectly.
The statistics on Sidney’s heroin users were fairly split between males and females. Balling said the average age of a heroin user is 36 years old, and 96 percent of users who received naloxone (the generic version of Narcan, an opiate antidote) were white. Sidney Fire Department went on 101 calls in which naloxone was used. Balling said many times more than one dose was necessary to revive a user. This resulted in 171 doses administered to 81 individuals. Fire Chief Brad Jones reported that as of Monday, they had administered 87 doses of naloxone in 2017.
Council member Darryl Thurber asked if people can build up a tolerance to the naloxone. Balling said no and referred to Jones for further explanation. Jones confirmed Balling’s account that a tolerance can not be built up in a person’s system and as long as opiates are not present in the body, the drug will have no effect, nor can it cause harm to a body that does not have opiates in the body.
Council member Steve Wagner questioned the cost of the drug and asked if the city was having to pay for it to be administered. Balling said the two-pack cartridge cost is $119 to obtain it over the counter from a local pharmacy. Jones said currently the city does not pay for the drug when administered. He said even if a person is not transported to the hospital, and signs-off against medical advice, the fire department will return the bag containing the used or unused portion of the drug/cartridges, as part of the medical bag exchange program with the regional hospitals, and the hospital will absorb the cost.
Thurber commended the police and fire chiefs, and their departments, for their “great work” on the heroin epidemic in Sidney and their use of funds to address the issue.
“In my mind, the community is not going to get rid of this problem, until the community itself gets, if you will, sick of this problem, to face it head on and start looking for the causes and actually working with the police department, the fire department, the outreaches, to get through this. I think that’s the only way we are going to defeat this problem. We can do whatever we have to do, as far as police, fire, council, city, whatever; outreaches. But, until the community itself takes charge of this, it’s not going to go away,” Thurber said.
Balling said the police department aims to continue to improve communication within the department and the community, the police officers’ training and development, proactive enforcement, and seek solutions to Sidney’s heroin problem. The department also plans to implement a Juvenile LE Workshop, which is similar to the Citizen Police Academy for Sidney’s High School freshmen through senior classes.
He said the police department will also continue its outreach with Tri County Mental Health, Shelby County Counseling, OSP, the state attorney’s office, Samaritan Works and Shelby County Heroin Clearinghouse.
Balling said the positive side of the heroin epidemic is that tide is beginning to turn. He said he has been contacted by more churches, organizations and private citizens in the last couple of months than every before to address the issue, such as an event coming up next month called “Rock the Difference” intended to help bring awareness of the epidemic.
